I have heard of this being done in a few restaurants. Also a friend took a cab from the airport and the driver added a 20% tip to the fare (this was discovered after he paid via credit card and had added another 15% tip, so that driver made a nice tip, huh?).

I don't like this practice at all. I am checking restaurant bills more carefully. I will be the one to decide whether to leave a tip and how much.

As fat as workers making less than minimum wage, that is not the fault of the customer.

OP, you were fine imo. In fact, since the service was not good, I think you should have reduced the tip to 10%. I would not go back there and I would post a negative review for that restaurant, and tell people to check their bill carefully.

There is a restaurant in my town that charges *18% gratuity for dining in (but not if you order take out), 7% sales tax and on top of that they're hoping you'll leave an extra tip on the table. They're across the street from a busy hospital and medical offices. Yet nobody eats there; the doctors and nurses run down the street to a reasonably priced restaurant instead. Plus I ordered take out from there once and the cashier acted like "Ugh, why are you ordering and wasting my time ? Why you gotta ask questions about the menu ?" This cashier also didn't include a salad that came with my meal "because she wasn't eating in, so I didn't think she'd want it." The manager / owner (?) chewed her out for it, but I still won't go back there *regardless of how many people are in your party

If you've given this restaurant a decent review in the past. You are in a powerful position. I might discount a bad review based on the vibe I get. But, if it references a decent review they gave in the past. I really pay attention.

I have a question about this. What exactly constitutes a pary of "8 or more"? A group of us from work went out for drinks and appetizers. There were more than 8 of us for sure. HOWEVER, we all had separate checks. Now I must ask if that is a pary of 8 or more, or 8 or more parties of one? At the end of the evening, we each got our separate checks, and found the automatic 18% gratuity added to each and every one of our checks. It left a bad taste in my mouth because it didn't seem quite honest to me. It might HAVE been honest, but it just felt off to me.

I have a question about this. What exactly constitutes a pary of "8 or more"? A group of us from work went out for drinks and appetizers. There were more than 8 of us for sure. HOWEVER, we all had separate checks. Now I must ask if that is a pary of 8 or more, or 8 or more parties of one? At the end of the evening, we each got our separate checks, and found the automatic 18% gratuity added to each and every one of our checks. It left a bad taste in my mouth because it didn't seem quite honest to me. It might HAVE been honest, but it just felt off to me.

At the same table = 1 party.Multiple checks is more work, not less work, for the restaurant.1 party = 1 group of people who they have to work around the needs of--timing food for all 8 (so courses come out at appropriate times), dealing w/ the table tie up/booth rent for 8 people.

I have a question about this. What exactly constitutes a pary of "8 or more"? A group of us from work went out for drinks and appetizers. There were more than 8 of us for sure. HOWEVER, we all had separate checks. Now I must ask if that is a pary of 8 or more, or 8 or more parties of one? At the end of the evening, we each got our separate checks, and found the automatic 18% gratuity added to each and every one of our checks. It left a bad taste in my mouth because it didn't seem quite honest to me. It might HAVE been honest, but it just felt off to me.

I assume that (1) they're going by how many seats being taken up, not the number of separate checks and (2) they added that to everyone's bills to avoid patrons skipping the tip via "It's not my turn to pay the tip, it's Suzy's. You guys work this out among yourselves. I'm outta here." Although I suspect that if you'd asked them to fix it, they would've (unless you indeed did ask)

I have a question about this. What exactly constitutes a pary of "8 or more"? A group of us from work went out for drinks and appetizers. There were more than 8 of us for sure. HOWEVER, we all had separate checks. Now I must ask if that is a pary of 8 or more, or 8 or more parties of one? At the end of the evening, we each got our separate checks, and found the automatic 18% gratuity added to each and every one of our checks. It left a bad taste in my mouth because it didn't seem quite honest to me. It might HAVE been honest, but it just felt off to me.

At the same table = 1 party.Multiple checks is more work, not less work, for the restaurant.1 party = 1 group of people who they have to work around the needs of--timing food for all 8 (so courses come out at appropriate times), dealing w/ the table tie up/booth rent for 8 people.

Agreed. Otherwise everyone would just split the checks and avoid the fee! If you're all at one table and eating together, you're one party.

I have a question about this. What exactly constitutes a pary of "8 or more"? A group of us from work went out for drinks and appetizers. There were more than 8 of us for sure. HOWEVER, we all had separate checks. Now I must ask if that is a pary of 8 or more, or 8 or more parties of one? At the end of the evening, we each got our separate checks, and found the automatic 18% gratuity added to each and every one of our checks. It left a bad taste in my mouth because it didn't seem quite honest to me. It might HAVE been honest, but it just felt off to me.

At the same table = 1 party.Multiple checks is more work, not less work, for the restaurant.1 party = 1 group of people who they have to work around the needs of--timing food for all 8 (so courses come out at appropriate times), dealing w/ the table tie up/booth rent for 8 people.

Agreed. Otherwise everyone would just split the checks and avoid the fee! If you're all at one table and eating together, you're one party.

Yes, I don't think that it's unfair for a group of 8 or more. When you factor in the time that they wait for everyone else to arrive before they order, plus the extra time to serve that many people - the individual waiter/waitress could have possibly turned two 4-person tables twice in that period of time. Plus, the fact that when cheques are split, everyone seems to assume that someone else is covering the tip.

I recently went out with a group of 12 or 14, and yes we all got separate checks. The waitress was horrified to see a gratuity on them, as apparently the policy at that restaurant is to usually charge a large-party gratuity when it's one large bill, and as she distributed our bills she apologized and told us to feel free to mark it out and leave whatever tip we felt like leaving.

Not surprisingly, as she'd been amazing all night, most of us opted to leave the tip on there and a few left a little extra on the table.

If she hadn't been helpful or chatty, or had got confused about "Who had this?" on every order, and left us all with empty glasses the full time, and then silently handed out an auto gratuity, I have a feeling we'd have marked it out and left less. There really are ways to work within the system to make everybody happy.

I have a question about this. What exactly constitutes a pary of "8 or more"? A group of us from work went out for drinks and appetizers. There were more than 8 of us for sure. HOWEVER, we all had separate checks. Now I must ask if that is a pary of 8 or more, or 8 or more parties of one? At the end of the evening, we each got our separate checks, and found the automatic 18% gratuity added to each and every one of our checks. It left a bad taste in my mouth because it didn't seem quite honest to me. It might HAVE been honest, but it just felt off to me.

In my understanding:If your group of 8 or more people all dine together at one table, you're a party of 8 or more. If your group of 8 or more people sits at multiple tables, but expect the waiters to coordinate so that you all order and receive your food at the same time, then you're a party of 8 or more. In this case, if the menu says parties of 8 or more have an automatic gratuity, you should be prepared to accept that regardless of whether you pay as individual checks or a single check for the table. OTOH, if you walk in as a group of 8, but split up into two groups of four at different tables, and each table orders/dines at their own pace*, then you're two parties of 4. IMO, you would have grounds to object to the "8 or more" auto-gratuity in that case unless you were explicitly told at the beginning of the meal that they would be billing you as a party of 8.

*IOW, each table gives their orders/receives their food when their waiter gets to them. No delaying so that both tables order together, no expectation that both tables will receive their food and/or their checks at the same time, etc.